The summer festival season is a massive part of Kiwi culture but can generate a lot of waste. At VAPO, we have put in the mahi to tackle vape waste head-on as official vape recycling partners at Rhythm and Vines and Northern Bass festivals. These events provided a fantastic opportunity to present our world-leading VapeCycle programme to festival-goers in Aotearoa.
The VapeCycle team worked hard to educate people about our initiative and collect vape waste that would otherwise end up in landfills. Interactions at these festivals have been pivotal for the VapeCycle programme, as awareness of vape waste is at an all-time high and will continue to be an integral part of VAPO’s mission. We wanted to make recycling as easy as possible for festival goers, so we had some of our team walking around with VapeCycle backpacks. Collecting waste and chatting with vapers about the importance of vape recycling at events was an awesome chance to get feedback as well as enlighten those not in the know about VapeCycle.
Festival organisers have agreed that a large part of providing a smoke-free festival environment involves taking responsibility for reducing vape waste. Our Events Manager, Gair McCulloch, says, “With vape components appearing in 454 of 1,200 beach litter surveys, we want to do our part. Thankfully, our goals align with those of our event partners, who are keen to minimise each of their event's environmental impacts. Organisers are already working to reduce general waste, taking a reuse, renewable, and recycle approach, and the addition of VapeCycle adds to this wider sustainability toolbox. As awareness of the VapeCycle programme grows, we hope that vape recycling will become a regular part of every vaper's journey.”
We are stoked with how supportive our festival partners have been of VapeCycle, such as Gareth Popham, director of Northern Bass, who shares our vision. Gareth shares, “We’re in the business of delivering an epic music experience. A key part of this is ensuring we reduce our environmental impact and create an inclusive, safe place for our guests to celebrate. Partnering with VAPO helps our guests make the most out of the VapeCycle initiative, supporting the wider Green Team charter and is a logical sustainability solution to offer.”
Following this summer's success, we are already planning the 2024/2025 season, with Northern Bass and Rhythm & Vines locked in! VapeCycle is also working on an exciting new partnership with Trademark Live, the hosts of Mardi Gras, Bay Dreams and Plain Sailing. Keep an eye out for VapeCycle at your next event or festy so you can help us fulfil our vision.
A bit more about VapeCycle
VapeCycle is a large part of our overall goal to reduce the harm of smoking in Aotearoa. Your favourite products are specifically designed to prevent harm from smoking, so aligning with this health goal by limiting the environmental impact on the planet makes perfect sense to us!
In 2019, we initiated our partnership with waste management company TerraCycle to launch VapeCycle. Since then, we have collected over 146,361 units and 2,346 kilograms of waste. This is an exciting start for us, but more needs to be done to continue its success and long-term impact. Raising awareness of this initiative is the first step in helping the vape community protect our environment.
When VapeCycle was initially designed, we wanted to make it as easy as possible for customers to dispose of their vapes sustainably. You can drop your old pods and devices at one of the 36 recycling points or use TerraCycle's free mailing service! The beauty of this programme is that VAPO can recycle any vape waste – not just our brands like alt., Bud and solo!
Checkout VapeCycle's website for more information!